GENRE
	Simulation
	DEVELOPER
	Hudson Soft
	PUBLISHER
	Electronic Arts
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	Yes
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

For serious gamers, the SimCity series needs no introduction. Will Wright’s grand franchise has enthralled millions of gamers across a myriad of platforms during an impressive two-decade run that includes successful spinoffs like The Sims. With the runaway success of Wii and the system’s IR functionality, to say nothing of EA’s strong support of the system, it is perhaps not surprising a SimCity title has landed on Wii’s shores.

SimCity Creator is the Wii installment in the series, bringing trademark SimCity features and some novel charm to the little white console. At the same time, Creator also comes off feeling enough like “SimCity Lite” that it probably won’t supplant the PC series anytime soon.

visuals

The SimCity series has never been about the graphics, particularly as the game is generally played from a birds-eye view. The Wii build, then, is predictably in line with the rest of the series, with competent graphics mostly shown from afar. The game does allow for some zooming in and even flyovers, but don’t expect anything revolutionary. At the same time, the game looks just fine insofar as SimCity games go and few fans of the series will take issue.

The art design is sort of a take it or leave it proposition. The game’s characters are taken directly from the MySims style, with those goofy cartoon characters that look more detailed but less inspired than Miis. (There is no Mii integration.) The game’s city architecture is varied depending on specific “hero buildings” a player plants in the area, with styles ranging from the medieval to the modern. It’s all window dressing, mind you, but personal taste will dictate whether or not it’s a worthy component of the game.

audio

Well, the SimCity series has never been about the sound, either. Most games in the series tend to be understated in this regard, with efficient but forgettable ambient soundtracks. Such is the case with SimCity Creator: expect lots of light tunes, some traditional SimCity sound effects (like that trademark slam every time a building is placed), and no voicework.

gameplay

If you’re looking for a game to waste lots of time with, you could do worse. SimCity Creator comes with a variety of modes, including a core “Free Mode” that retains the series’ most addictive qualities. Free Mode puts the player on a blank topographical canvas with the task of building roads, zoning areas, running electrical lines, installing plumbing, and doing all the other seemingly mundane tasks that make SimCity so compelling. Before long, players have to make decisions about tax valuations, community programs, overcrowding issues, pollution problems, electrical shortages, crime, and a host of other challenges. It’s the sort of game that will have you looking at the clock hours later, wondering where the time went.

Free Mode begins with a plot of land of variable size and a small cache of building options. As the city grows larger and more advanced, more effective buildings and add-ons are unlocked, further fueling the game’s addictiveness. The draw of the game is to find ways to grow a city beyond its current population and to incorporate the ever-growing lineup buildings into the player-crafted urban landscape. Greater population size also creates new problems, opening the door for all sorts of solution-hunting. Suffice to say that the Free Play mode has plenty of longevity and loads of replay value.

Beyond the Free Mode -- which is admittedly substantial -- there isn’t much else to really talk about. The game has a nice tutorial, but it’s really only needed once, if at all. The Mission Mode serves up some interesting quick-action scenarios but doesn’t really have legs beyond being a minor diversion from the main game. The Wi-Fi Contest mode offers online goal-driven contests, but only the most competitive players will probably wade into those treacherous waters.

Unfortunately, the gripe list for SimCity Creator is longer than it ought to be. The load times are far too long, especially when bringing up advisor menus. The menus can be cumbersome and hard to navigate, especially given that Wii is without the hotkeys and shortcuts that made the PC version so accessible. The game overall is light on content, with many of SimCity 4’s features stripped out -- agriculture zones, just to name one -- in favor of a game that is probably more user friendly but feels short on depth. The advisors are saccharine helpers and rarely give any advice worth the trouble to read.

The game’s controls use both IR and waggle at different points. The IR is a little unforgiving, as it requires a steady hand. As a mouse substitute, the Wii remote just doesn’t seem to cut it. The bounding box is particularly onerous, as the camera is tied to the IR (the camera probably should have been tied to the analog stick, with IR used for maneuvering in the current field of view) and thus often veers off at the most inopportune time. That being said, it’s still superior to a standard console controller and with some practice the controls become serviceable enough that they’re only an intermittent distraction from the overall game.

The use of Wii remote motion is confined to the game’s disasters, which can be called down on an unsuspecting city. Disasters have always been sort of an indulgence in SimCity; they’re fun to mess with but most players will only mess with them once or twice just to say they did. Nevertheless, Creator brings waggle to disasters, as various calamities are summoned by the Wii remote, whether using shaking to trigger an earthquake or flicks of the remote to bring down meteors. It’s nothing exceptional, but it’s a nice touch while it lasts.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

SimCity Creator isn’t a bad game. In fact, taken on its own apart from the rest of the series, it’s actually pretty decent. It retains the essential charm of the franchise and the quintessential “just five more minutes” addictiveness that made the SimCity brand a bona fide time-killer.

The problem lies in the simple fact that it simply doesn’t stack up that well next to the superior body of PC iterations. The IR control isn’t as tight as a mouse and the depth in Creator doesn’t hold a candle to 2003’s SimCity 4. Overall, SimCity Creator is not a bad option, but given that better (and cheaper) options exist, Wii owners might want to look to their PC for their SimCity fix instead.

6.5/10